Kokua Line
Kokua Line
I recently went to Kakaako Waterfront Park and found the state has done nothing about the prickly weeds there. I saw a little child sitting on a bench and crying because something had gotten in his foot. Also, the restrooms are so dark and dank and the garbage not taken care of. Park’s prickly problems
will be tackled soonIt was almost exactly a year ago that someone else also complained about the thorny "kukus" that plagued the park.
Back then, the answer was that the park design consultant would be asked to look at the problem to see what could be done.
"We're getting prepared to do something" this summer and fall, Alex Achimore, director of planning and development for the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which developed and oversees the park, said last week.
The delay in combating the thorny weeds is due to a combination of things, he said, including "the irrigation system breaking down all the time," weeds going to seed and a shortage of workers to tackle the problem. All this, including general maintenance, is aggravated by "limited funding," Achimore said.
"Apparently there is no way to get rid of these burrs without extensive replanting or reworking," he said.
"Overall, we don't know how much work this will take per square foot to make the place burr-free and we don't know if we can afford to do the entire park anytime soon," he said. "So we have to do part of it (the more heavily used areas first) and see what's really involved."
The timetable calls first for upgrading the irrigation system.
"We've had equipment failures; the pumps keep burning out," and the "heads" keep breaking off, Achimore said. Part of the problem is vandalism.
There are at least three kinds of prickly weeds at the park, according to Milton Matayoshi, a noxious weed specialist for the state Department of Agriculture.
They are the khaki weed -- with a sharp, spiny flower part that is painful when stepped on; the Spanish clover, a legume that sticks to you; and the sand burr -- referred to by local folks as "kukus," he said.
None of the three is on the state's noxious weed list, "so that inhibits us from doing control work," Matayoshi said.
However, he said his department was consulted by the HCDA last year on the problem.
A ship called the Sawnee has been tied up at Pier 3 for close to three months. There are people on board and I see lights on at night, but it never leaves the harbor. What's it doing here? The general cargo ship, registered in Malta, was on its way to China, cargo-less, when it developed engine problems. It's been docked here about five months, said Alan Murakami, Honolulu Harbor operations supervisor.
When major engine problems were discovered, the owners initially decided to fix the 424-foot ship, he said. Figuring out where to do the repairs took a while, then the owners decided to scrap the vessel, Murakami said.
A tug would be needed to tow the Sawnee to some place where it could be cut up. That's not possible in Hawaii, Murakami said.
There's been no problem in allowing the ship to remain at Pier 3 so far, since it hasn't been interfering with operations or taking up needed space. Plus, the owners have been up to date in paying dockage fees of $437.50 a day, Murakami said.
But he has asked the owners to ship out by the end of June because of upcoming ship construction projects.
To police officers who drive without wearing seatbelts. They should lead by example. -- No name Auwe
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